


of tiger lilies and serial killers

by viraseii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Realities, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Blood and Gore, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap, Hanahaki Disease, Horror, M/M, Minor Character Death, Violence, quite a bit of plaxance, slasher fic, this takes place after canon season 4
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 05:29:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16947906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viraseii/pseuds/viraseii
Summary: unrequited love, flowers in your lungs, genderbend au, and being caught in a slasher film all rolled into one? its more likely than you thinksidenote im not transphobic and i really dont want to hear that argument against genderbend aus so if you have a problem w it just dont read





	of tiger lilies and serial killers

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be my klance bb piece for 2018 but we dont talk about that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my partner for this bang was the wonderful [mori](http://enikawamoriko.tumblr.com/), and i'll link their art once it's up!!!!

Lotor smiles welcomingly at Kolivan. “I’m proud, citizens of the Galra Empire,” he calls, “to announce the end of ten thousand years of militarism and fascist dictatorship. We have worked hard to crumble tyranny from within, and now we open our council to representatives of all species governed. The Paladins of Voltron before you shall henceforth serve to provide veto power to any decision, but these decisions will be made by you. You are no longer subjects. You are allies, individuals, nations, competitive planets of innovation and business. Let the hierarchy of race end here, for there is one thing that unites us all.”

He pauses, watching the analytics board. The entire universe is watching.

“Life. We all live, we have all withstood terrible inequality, and we will all work to build an equal threshold for all planets. Former citizens of the Galra Empire, I welcome you to a new age. I welcome you to the Coalition.” Lotor steps back from the podium as the Altean Princess takes his place. Her speeches are kind of boring, so - he lets her do her peacemaking and turns to weave past the gathering of the Blade members.

Acxa stands at the end of the room, gaze critical and cautious. He sends her a smile as he steps up to her. “Won’t this be a lot of trouble?” she asks. “These are people who are used to being oppressed, and now you’ve given everyone a voice. This is going to clash against itself, and the Paladins of Voltron having veto power will slow all progress down.”

Lotor nods. “You’re right. And that is why we won’t be giving them veto power.”

Acxa frowns. “So you just defeated one dictator, and you plan to just transition right into a new one.”

“The liberal mindset will have its time and place, but it is not easy to flip from top-down militaristic rule to socialism and equity. They need a guide to ease them into it. They are not ready to govern themselves. It is just a matter of manipulating Voltron out of the picture; they are the only ones remaining in my way.”

Acxa meets his eyes. “So what are you going to do?”

Lotor leans back against the wall. “The decaphoebs it’s taken to defeat my father have given me ample time to research the interfacing between realities. With our recent success in harnessing the quintessence from that gap, I’ve conducted several experiments to test the boundaries that keep realities separate. I’ve already run a trial myself to find it fruitful; there’s just a simple matter of switching the consciousnesses of these Paladins with the consciousnesses of their counterparts in a reality where they are weaker, and much easier to get rid of. A little bit of tweaking of time and space, and by this time tomorrow, the Paladins will no longer be a problem in this reality.”

Acxa’s eyes are wide. “If you fail-“

“I haven’t failed. I did, at first, as everyone does. But I can navigate realities more precisely, now. Once I’ve switched them over to the second reality, it’ll just be a matter of getting rid of them before they can figure out how to switch back.”

Acxa turns back to the Princess addressing the Coalition at the podium. “Where will you take them?”

Lotor smiles. “Somewhere they won’t see me coming.”

-

Lance wakes up with this god-awful pain in his stomach. It’s gnawing at his muscles, pulling them tight with tension, and he tries to curl his legs up into his body to ease them but it has zero effect.

“Fuck,” he groans. He tries rolling over a few times, hoping that maybe he won’t have to get up and get water or something and he can just... go back to sleep... the pain will fade... but it all comes rushing back stronger in a wave of nausea and. And wow, he’s up-

Lance nearly falls off the bed with how fast he scrambles to get out of his blankets. When he does disentangle himself, he freezes, because this is a... this is not where he went to sleep. This is not - nausea rolls in his stomach again, and he struggles toward the faint outline of a door in the dark. This is... this is his house, so maybe he’s dreaming? He makes his way to the bathroom and trips over himself, doesn’t even turn on the light before heaving over the toilet.

It takes a good half hour for him to find his focus again, at which point he abruptly dissolves into panic and confusion.

Because here’s the thing - his stomach is killing him, and he’s never felt anything like this before -

And speaking of his stomach, it’s thinner, and rather than the abs he was pretty proud of yesterday there’s just smooth skin, the kind Lance has always dreamed about touching -

He flicks on the light and glances in the mirror to confirm -

He’s not in his own body. She looks like him, vaguely, sure - long brown hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, smooth tan skin, the blue eyes he has never seen on anyone else.

“Jeez, you’re so dramatic.” Lance’s eyes dart toward the door of the bathroom, looking at another girl through the mirror. And... well, definitely a sister, definitely looks like Lina, only that nose belongs to Lucas, and Lance is at a loss for words.

There are several things that help you to realize you’re not dreaming. One, if you think you might be dreaming, you’re probably not, because Lance has never been in a dream where he suspects he’s dreaming. Two, he shouldn’t be able to think this meta about his situation without breaking the dream, because usually when he figures out he’s dreaming he has a hard time staying asleep. Three, he has exactly five fingers, which has always worked as a reality check in the past. So...

So he’s not? Dreaming?

The girl in the mirror smiles, as if she’s amused, and then comes up behind Lance and circles her arms around his waist, massaging his sides.

“You went to sleep early, but Plaxum came by for you. He got you chocolate. He’s so sweet to you...”

“Plaxum..?” Lance mumbles, voice coming out thinner and higher than his normal one. He sounds exactly like his sisters.

“Mhmm. He’s a keeper. Come on, it’s three thirty, get changed and then get some sleep if you can, okay?”

Lance is having a major freak out inside now. “Okay,” he says, his voice still higher than he wants it to be even when he tries to lower it. His sister (?) gives him a final squeeze around the waist before leaving the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

... Get changed? Like maybe back into a boy? Maybe nunvil is hallucinogenic for humans. Maybe the Castle AI fucked up again. But there’s no way it could change his own body, right? He cautiously brings his hands up to his chest, pressing his fingers into his breasts, and yup - they’re definitely there.

Another wave of pain hits him, and he wants to crumple to the floor. One thin arm clamps around his midsection as the other grabs the counter to support him. What the hell?? He’s dying.

And what... had his possibly-sister just meant? Get changed. Get changed - he had to find Allura is what he had to do. But where the fuck to start? If he’s back at his house, does that mean she’s back in the cryopod? What about the Voltron lions?

His stomach contorts in pain, and he swears, kneeling down to the ground. He gets to the toilet and manages to shove his leggings down and fall into the seat to try to see if he just needs to shit or something - and then he realizes what’s happening.

There’s a... pad, he thinks, attached to his underwear, stained with dark red, and it hits him. Not only is he in a girl’s body, but she’s on her period.

Chocolate sounds really fucking good right now.

He groans.

-

“Hey,” Lance says, smiling as he snaps to get his baby sister’s attention. So far, he still has five siblings, as far as he can tell. He used to have two sisters and three brothers, but now he has two brothers and three sisters, and... his mom is white, dad Cuban.... which is interesting. It’s like... everything is the exact same, except they’re all the opposite gender.

And he’s in high school, judging by the mess of textbooks and papers under his bed.

“Hey, we’re gonna play a game. Okay?” He smiles at the girl, and she grins and raises her hands. He grabs them to keep her attention. “What’s my name?”

“Lana.”

“What’s your name?”

“Chrissy!”

“Good job.” He points to the older girl who helped him last night. “Who is she?”

“That’s Lacey.”

“Who’s sitting next to her?”

“Chase and Jocelyn.” Lance frowns, because she says something more like chase and josyn but he’s.... fairly certain that’s what she’s saying.

“And who’s the idiot one who just spilled cereal all over the floor?”

“Linden,” she laughs. Lance gives her another smile.

"Great job. I'm proud of you."

"Lana, let Christina sleep! What are you doing? Come eat your breakfast." Lance glances up at his dad.

"Yeah, fine," he murmurs. "She's already wide awake though."

"Hey, Chrissy, is Lana keeping you up?" the younger boy - Chase, most likely the male equivalent of Jenna back home - calls.

"Sííííí."

"How dare she."

Lance sighs. He wants to join in with their sibling banter, but he's way too preoccupied. He fishes his phone out of his back pocket - which, really, feels so weird because god these shorts are so fucking tiny and yeah they look great on girls but now that they're on him? Not the most wonderful feeling.

He scrolls through his contacts, frowning briefly at the image of Lana kissing some boy that is his lockscreen. He aimlessly moves down the alphabetical list, pausing right before Plaxum's name and wondering if he should thank .. him? for the chocolates or something. He's already eaten half of them. They're really fucking good.

And then someone else's name catches his eye.

He pauses. Pidge. Is that..? He gets up from the table, leaving his half eaten scrambled eggs, and moves toward the adjacent room before hitting dial.

It's picked up on the third ring. "Pidge?" he demands.

"...Yeah?"

"Katie Holt Pidge, Green Paladin of Voltron?"

"I - how did you-"

"It's Lance."

"Oh - oh holy fucking shit, Lance, do you know what happened?"

"No," Lance blows out. "But I'm glad I'm not alone. Something about this feels off. We need to figure out how to find Allura."

"Off? That's it? I have a penis! And no Lion!"

"I'm on a period, so I think you're better off at this moment," he grumbles into the phone. "Seriously, you guys go through this your entire lives?"

"Ooh, that time of the month, is it?"

Lance flares. "Fuck you."

"Yup. We go through that our entire lives. Anyway - Do you think the rest are here? In bodies of the opposite biological sex? Because I apparently have an older sister named Madeline, but she doesn't seem to think she's part of any space rebel force or anything."

"Well, it can't be just us," Lance murmurs. "We should try to find everyone else."

"Yeah. Okay. Um... I. I don't know what to do? Matt - eline .. is about to drive me to school. I don't know what this version of me has been learning in school!"

"Oh, that’s not a problem for you!" Lance scoffs. He chews his lip for a moment. "So.. you think we're in a different version of ourselves?"

"Well, the only way I can see this happening would be if we were somehow transferred to our bodies in an alternate reality. Maybe one where everyone's sex is the opposite. Do you think Voltron exists here?"

"I don't know. Are we in Arizona? Do you think we can ditch class to find Blue again?"

"We're in California."

"Fuck." Lance pauses. "Okay. Here's the plan. Let's get through school, and figure things out more once we find everyone else. Your contact name in my phone is Pidge, so maybe one of the others will try to call you like I did."

"Yeah, okay," Pidge says. "By the way, if you need any help, I can teach you how to use a tampon for however long this lasts-"

"Nope," Lance says, voice shrill. "Don't need it. Thank you, bye." He cuts the phone.

The car honks at him from outside. He curses and runs to get his backpack, throwing on a light jacket before rushing out the door to get in the car. His older brother's driving.

"Jesus, Lana, bad morning?" he asks. Lance thinks. His older sister back home is Lina. This - this must be... Linden, the one who spilled the cereal. Right.

"At least I ate out of a bowl this morning, and not off the floor," he shoots back.

Linden laughs and whistles. "Grouchy."

Lance fumes. Linden doesn't even fucking know.

"Girl, your makeup," Lacey frowns, twisting back to look at Lance from the passenger seat. "Podría ayúdate."

Lance just scowls out the window. Why did having boobs and a vagina make him so different.

-

Lance eyes the school critically as they park. He lets his siblings stumble over each other as they fight to grab all their shit - it’s a huge building, sloping metal roof easily at least two or three stories high. Wings extend to either side, and he’s sure it’s fairly deep, likely just as impressive from any other angle. He watches as a school bus pulls up, high schoolers stepping out, half of them sleeping on their legs and half of them fucking around with their friends. Lance feels something stab at his chest at the sight. He misses that. He misses that so much.

“Lana!” Chase snaps. “Hurry up!”

”Coming, Jeez,” Lance grunts, reaching over the back seat to grab his backpack and finally stepping out the door.

He trails at their backs as his siblings move toward the entrance, unsure of where to go and what to do. He hasn’t even thought about attending school in so long. How the hell is he supposed to act?

He’s watching the kids get off the bus somewhat nostalgically when the last person off makes him freeze on the spot. He. He fucking. Oh fucking Christ-

“Lana?” Lacey looks back. “What’s-“

Lance ignores her, breaking into a sprint, grabbing his phone out of the tiny back pocket of his tiny shorts.

He grits his teeth as he fires the news off to Pidge, haphazardly jamming it back into his pocket and picking up the pace. The doors close over the backpack he’s zeroed in on.

He pulls them open impatiently and catches up to Keith, grabbing his elbow roughly and dragging him around to face him. Keith’s first reaction is to fight - but Lance knows that and prepares for it, blocking Keith’s strike before he breaks Lance’s nose.

“It’s Lance,” he hisses. “Fancy seeing you here, Mullet.”

Keith’s eyes widen. He throws his arms around Lance, mumbling, “I thought it was just me,” before immediately stepping back a couple paces and obviously looking Lance up and down.

Lance crosses his arms over his chest. “Subtle,” he bites out. Then something strikes him - “wh...”

His eyes dart around before he grabs Keith and pulls him deeper into the school, shoving past students and teachers as he storms down a hallway to the right and continues to the very end of the wing. It’s what feels like at least a good two or three minutes later when he finally pulls Keith up a staircase and lets go, breathing hard and analyzing his surroundings. They seem to be alone, so he whirls on Keith, who’s staring out the giant glass wall that lights up the stairwell.

“What is that?” Lance demands, gesturing to Keith’s body. “Why- why didn’t you change? Why did I change genders - and you didn’t???”

Keith shakes his head, confused. “What?”

Lance sighs exasperatedly. “Pidge is amazed at the functions of her new penis. I’m having a period. How come you get off easy??”

Keith laughs hollowly. “I... I didn’t. Why did you say gender when you meant biological sex?”

Lance throws his arms up. “Oh, who cares?”

Keith snags one of Lance’s wrists in his hand. “I did,” he says. “I’m in the same boat Pidge is. Is she here too? How did you find her?”

Lance stares. “What? Back up. You’re in the same boat Pidge is? I’m sorry but you don’t look like a girl to me-“

Keith rolls his eyes, shoving Lance back. “God damn it, Lance, because I’m not a girl!”

“Then why am I a girl??”

“You’re not a girl, you’re a boy, in a biologically female bod-“

“Okay fine, then how come your fucking body didn’t change from a biologically male body to biologically female body?” Lance snaps.

Keith just laughs at him again. “Because it changed from female to male.”

Lance’s mind blanks.

“Did you not know? I’m trans! Well - I mean right now I guess I’m not, which is a great feeling-“

“You’re trans?” Lance demands. “Since when?”

Keith gives him a puzzled look. “Um, since always? Until last night-“

Lance’s world implodes. He tunes Keith out until the boy snaps in his face.

“Lance!” Keith says impatiently. “Where’s Pidge?”

Lance blinks slowly. He groans, leaning back on his heels as he fishes out his phone. “I’ll tell her to meet us here,” he grumbles. “Then we’ll figure things out.” He opens the chat with her, her recent messages piquing his interest. “Hey, she found Hunk.”

Keith frowns. “What about Shiro?”

Lance shrugs helplessly. He rubs absently at his back, not realizing he’s doing it until Keith’s hands on him startle him.

“What are you doing?” he asks, stepping back.

Keith holds out his arms impatiently. “Come here. It sucks being on your period, let me try to at least massage your back a little.”

Lance tries to fight down the sudden heat in his cheeks. He immediately notices several things - Keith’s taller than him in this reality, and his hands are bigger, and his chest a little broader, hips a little thinner - Lance swallows thickly, something sharp dancing in his chest as he steps into Keith’s arms.

Keith starts rubbing circles right into Lance’s lower back, palms warm and insistent as they work at the tender muscles. Lance exhales, leaning into Keith’s chest, suddenly hit by the same fucking smell he’s become grudgingly addicted to over their time in space.

They stand there for a few minutes. Lance can see the sun rising and casting the sky in pink and orange to his side, and he lets himself privately enjoy this.

One fact he's come to terms with over his time in space is that sure, he can flirt and touch and make out with all the aliens he wants, but the moment he wants something more than that, he has to push it away. The moment he realized he wanted to not just make Keith smile but to keep him smiling, wanted to be the source of that smile again and again, he had to do his damn hardest to ignore those feelings.

He can feel them twisting sharply in his chest now. Because a Paladin of Voltron doesn't have time for dating - but small moments? Like this? They're... nice. Really nice.

And then they're interrupted.

"Lana?" The voice is mildly shocked and mostly incredulous. Lance pushes away from Keith hastily, glancing down the hall at their company. It's a guy in workout clothes, hair wet and kind of sticking up all over the place, holding a dark blue bag with Speedo printed over it in big grey letters. "What are you doing here?" he laughs. "Did you get my chocolate?" He drops his bag on the bench in the middle of the wide hallway and comes over, raising an eyebrow kind of suspiciously at Keith.

Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Oh, god - this is Plaxum. Lance can’t help looking him up and down - and, well, alternate reality female Lance Lana scored big for sure because as hot as Plaxum was as a mermaid, she is every bit as hot as a high school boy. Lance feels his cheeks warm.

"I could ask you the same question," he says meekly, crossing his arms over his too-large chest. "But, yeah, I did. They were good." He blushes more. God, this is so awkward. He doesn’t want to fuck up his alternate reality self's relationship. "Thanks," he mumbles.

"I have French, remember?" Plaxum pulls Lance in smoothly and seals off his mouth with a casual kiss, and - Lance may not be in a relationship with this Plaxum, or any Plaxum, but his heart melts.

He almost cries, right there, because Keith was just holding him close and Plaxum is now holding him close and kissing him and Lance is weak for pretty people and very weak for Keith and he's - combusting.

Keith coughs, rubbing absently at his sternum.

It gives Lance the cue to pull away. "You smell like chlorine," he says quietly, heady with the scent because holy fuck he hasn't smelled it in so long...

Plaxum snorts and tightens his grip around Lance’s waist. “You say that like you don’t enjoy me right after practice.” Then he turns his attention back to Keith, who’s frowning at the ground like he’s in physical pain. “So what are you doing?”

“Um...” Lance scrambles for an excuse. He used to be good at this. “Keith was helping me with homework, we came here for the textbooks.”

Plaxum frowns, looking at the classroom to Keith’s back. “Keith was helping you with Spanish?”

“No, he was helping me with Spanish,” Keith says quickly. Then he winces. “She.”

Plaxum raises his eyebrows. “Didn’t know you were taking Spanish. Mind if I hang out with you guys, then?”

“Actually, we’re kind of-“

“No, it’s totally fine,” Lance says breathily. Is he thinking with his dick right now? Considering he doesn’t have one anymore, he supposes he can safely deny the notion. But is he thinking with his head? ... definitely not.

Plaxum smiles, releasing Lance to stand with his arm around his shoulders.

“Uh,” Lance fumbles. “So... how do you say... I need to go to the store?” He fumbles.

Keith looks at him with a complicated expression. “Um. I... necesita.....”

“It’s one step up from necesito ir al baño,” Lance tries, hoping to god Keith knows at least something.

“... ness.... what?” Keith cuts off suddenly with barely suppressed coughs, rubbing at his chest.

“Whoa, you okay?” Plaxum checks.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Keith says a little flippantly.

Lance grins. “What, choke on your own lack of vocabulary or something?” He can’t help it.

Plaxum huffs a laugh. “You sure? Last person who coughed like that was... Nina. Anyone on your mind?”

Keith stares at Plaxum cluelessly. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Plaxum raises his hands. “I’m just saying, if you do like someone, it’s probably better to come to terms with it before anything gets serious. Or you just have a cold, I guess.”

Lance shifts uncomfortably. What?

“Isn’t it time for you guys to head to class, anyway?” Plaxum laughs as chatter increases, people making their way through the hallways in small groups.

“Right,” Lance laughs nervously. “What class am I in?”

“English,” Plaxum says, slowly and playfully.

“Cool.” Play it casual. “Wanna text me the rest of my schedule? Cuz I can’t remember shit. And uh, where the hell is English.”

“You’ve gone here for three years, now, Lana,” Plaxum laughs, grinning stupidly as he squeezes Lance’s shoulders. “I’ll take you there. Let’s go. See you around, Keith.”

“Yeah,” Keith says softly, turning his face away as Plaxum turns to leave the hall, Lance still secure in the crook of his arm.

Lance glances back at Keith, exchanging a worried glance. He mouths, I’ll find you, but Keith just furrows his brow because Keith is shit at reading lips. Lance turns away.

-

“Plaxum!” A girl with platinum blonde hair down to her waist waves them over once they finally make it to .... what Lance assumes must be the hall with his English class in it. “Plaxum, Lance, great to see you. I heard from Ezor that you left practice early yesterday to go buy her chocolates, that’s really sweet of you.” The girl is smiling, swishing her hair behind her shoulder, warmly listening as Plaxum responds.

But Lance is on guard. First of all, she called him Lance. Given that everyone here knows him as Lana, there’s no reason for her to call him that. And second of all - she keeps flicking her eyes to Lance meaningfully. He refuses to sever eye contact until she finally fixes her gaze on him, unwavering. There’s something impossible to understand in her eyes.

And third of all. Ezor. That’s a name Lance knows.

“... uh, Lori...”

The silver haired girl blinks and then smiles back at Plaxum at the call of her name. “Hey,” she says. “I’m holding a party at my place tomorrow.” Her eyes train back to Lance’s. “You two should definitely come.” She winks once at Lance and then moves past them, continuing down the hall.

“Will do,” Plaxum calls. Then he turns to Lance. “Wanna go?”

Lance blinks. “I...” this. Something important is happening here. “Absolutely.”

Plaxum smiles and continues down the hall. “Your destination, my lady.”

Lance laughs hollowly. His stomach is twisting sickeningly, and it has nothing to do with this period. “Thanks.”

“You feeling okay?”

He forces a smile. “Fine. Thanks, Plaxum.”

Plaxum pecks him once more on the lips before turning away to head off to French.

Lance doesn’t go to English. He doesn’t have time for that. He fishes out his phone instead and dials Pidge up.

“Lance?” she answers. “Lance - where are you?”

“Uhm... English?” He tries sheepishly. “Some girl just invited me and Plaxum to a party. But uh... she seems to know who I am. And she mentioned Ezor.”

“Can you make it back to us?”

“Let’s just meet out in the parking lot,” Lance mutters. “School can wait.”

Keith’s voice comes through the phone next. “Where’s Plaxum?”

A sharp pain bursts in the center of Lance’s chest when he hears that, for some reason. “Uhm, probably on his way back to you guys, since he has... French? Did he say? You should get out of there.”

“Not with you?”

Lance huffs a laugh. “Jealous?”

“Oh, you...” Keith cuts the phone. Lance bites down his smile, reaching up to absently rub at the top of his chest as he turns to find his way to the parking lot.

It’s... hurting. Like heartburn, but something.... a little different. He can’t place it.

Maybe just another period side effect.

-

“I think I ran into.... Lotor?” Lance says hesitantly. “And I think he’s here. Like, the same way as us.”

“Really?” Pidge asks, sitting on the hood of the car Lance is leaning against. “That’s great. We can talk to him, figure this out together.”

“Yeah, I don’t know where he is,” Lance scoffs. “But he invited me to a party at his house, or, whatever. Me and Plaxum,” he clarifies.

“Maybe he wants to chat with us at his house? He’s been researching the quintessence field for centuries, maybe he can get us out of this,” Hunk says.

“Or we could just find him and talk to him now,” Keith says.

“But it’s a party,” Lance pouts. “I haven’t been to a party in - years!”

Pidge gives him a judgmental look. “We get parties thrown for us all the time-“

“A high school party!” Lance shrills, which comes out much more higher pitched in this body than he’s used to. “Where we drink and dance and meet people and there’s music and a big house.”

“But we need to focus on getting home,” Keith says roughly. “We don’t even know where Allura is, if she even made it here. We know Lotor made it but we don’t know it any of his generals did - we need to focus on more important stuff.”

Lance sighs. “We never get a break from being Paladins, Keith,” he says softly, to a hum of assent from Hunk. Always has Lance’s back. “I want to enjoy this while it lasts. We have all the time in the world to figure out how to get back. I don’t know about you, but I miss being normal.”

“This is your period talking,” Keith snaps.

Lance bristles. “Fuck y-“

“Okay,” Hunk says loudly. “Okay. Okay okay okay clearly we are not figuring anything out like this.” He glances at Keith, who’s rubbing at his chest. “Friday is in a few days. So why don’t we just, I don’t know, go to this party and talk to Lotor there. Just go with the flow. These are real people whose lives we are in right now. Let’s try not to mess them up.”

Keith nods. Lance beams.

“Partyyyyyy,” he says happily.

-

Lance is in the bathroom coughing his fucking lungs out. He swears it feels like there’s some hard object, like a rod, a stick, in his goddamn chest - and it won’t let him _breathe._

It takes him a second to remember he’s in the wrong bathroom. A second consisting of him standing at the urinal and unzipping his pants before remembering - oh, yeah, instead of his usual parts there’s just a whole lot of blood and a whole lot of cramps. He swears, making his way out of the men’s restroom and into the women’s next to it.

He feels kind of really wrong being here. Sure, he looks the part - but he’s really not supposed to be using this bathroom. It’s not where he belongs.

The one thing he notices is while the guys’ bathroom graffiti is mostly dicks and sex jokes, the girls’ bathroom graffiti is short poems and pencil calligraphy about self love and being beautiful. It’s kind of. Really nice, in a way. The guys’ bathroom smells like someone pissed all over the stalls - the girls’ bathroom doesn’t smell _good_ but it’s definitely a lot cleaner. Or, that’s his impression until he opens the first stall and finds wet smears of blood over the seat.

Yikes.

It takes him a minute to break into the tiny silver box where his sister once told him they keep pads and tampons for girls - he didn’t imagine he would need to _change_ the fucking thing like a diaper but he guesses it was fairly obvious now that he knows. He washes his hand with soap for a full two minutes before leaving.

And running into Plaxum. Again. Wow.

“Lana,” he says kindly, reaching out a comforting hand when Lance jumps at his sudden appearance. “You doing okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Lance stammers, hand going to his back - at first to check and make sure the pads aren’t falling out of his pockets, and then to linger over his sore muscles. “Just, uh, heading back to class, you know.”

He laughs. “This bathroom is pretty far from your class.” Winks. Sweet Jesus, that’s distracting.

Lance isn’t _used_ to thinking of boys as attractive. Keith is his maybe second or third guy crush? But having been attracted to Plaxum in his own reality and now suddenly meeting her hot human male version - it’s not. It’s not Keith but he’s kind of in love with those bright blue eyes. Plaxum seems to notice that Lance isn’t listening because he leans in closer to Lance’s face, smiling kindly, and places his hands on Lance’s hips, guiding him back toward one of the benches in the middle of the hall.

“You could go home,” he says sweetly, “if you’re not feeling well.”

Lance gulps as Plaxum sits down, pulling him into his lap. He can feel the fabric of Plaxum’s track pants directly on his thighs thanks to the teeny tiny shorts his alt self wears. “I was thinking about it,” he says weakly.

Plaxum answers with the softest kiss, gentle and understanding against Lance’s mouth. The pain in Lance’s chest spikes horribly and he gasps before leaning in to Plaxum’s shoulder, breaking contact. “Babe, did you take your painkillers?”

“Uh, no, I’ve... misplaced them,” Lance whines, although he’s fairly certain with the way needles are spreading through his lungs that it’s not something a simple ibuprofen will fix. Plaxum gently lifts Lance’s face up with a finger on his chin, meeting their lips again as his hand slowly massages Lance’s lower back. And... oh, that feels good, but it does nothing for his hurting lungs.

He doesn’t know how long they’ve been kissing when Plaxum notices that Lance is crying. “Hey,” he says gently. “Hey, hey, Lana, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he says. “I’m just... not feeling great. I’m.” His chest _hurts._ “It’s just... my period talking.” He winces as he repeats Keith’s words.

“Hey, okay,” Plaxum says. “I’ll walk you back to class.”

“Thanks.”

-

 **Voltron: Me:** I think I have a crush on Plaxum

 **Voltron: Hannah:** Are we sure leaving behind digital evidence of this is a good idea

 **Voltron: Pidge:** We can delete the group chat once we figure out how to get back

 **Voltron: Me:** guys. Really I’m - HES kinda ashsshddjdkdkkdkfkfkglglg

 **Voltron: Keith:** Because he’s been shoving his tongue down your throat

 **Voltron: Me:** HE’S LANA’S BOYFRIEND!!!!!!! I’m not gonna BREAK UP with him!!!!!! And for the record he’s very GOOD at shoving his tongue down my throat!!

 **Voltron: Hannah:** Is this really important right now

 **Voltron: Keith:** Yes

 **Voltron: Pidge:** What’s lotor’s name here? Maybe someone has his... her... number

 **Voltron: Me:** Yes

 **Voltron: Me:** Is Plaxum a good kisser in EVERY reality? I swear

 **Voltron: Me:** I should have brought her back to the castle then another version of me would have an amazing boyfriend girlfriend thing

 **Voltron: Pidge:** Thanks for answering my question

 **Voltron: Me:** It was like Lora or something

 **Voltron: Hannah:** I have like three Loras

 **Voltron: Keith:** way

 **Voltron: Keith:** soryr. Accudent 

**Voltron: Pidge:** You good

 **Voltron: Pidge:** .... Keith?

 **Voltron: Hannah:** Hey i have to go eat dinner I’ll talk later

 **Voltron: Me:** Keith’s dead. Bye Hunk!!

 **Voltron: Keith:** Um I’m back sorry

 **Voltron: Keith:** I think I’m sick or something

 **Voltron: Me:** Yikes don’t touch me

-

Lance’s period ends Thursday, but the pain in his chest only grows worse every fucking hour. It feels better whenever he’s with Plaxum, so he tries to be around him as much as possible - which isn’t hard, and in fact quite enjoyable if Lance does say so himself.

Keith texted him Wednesday afternoon, and Lance still feels like he’s not entirely understood the conversation they had.

 **Keith:** Congrats on making it through your first menstrual cycle

 **Me:** You make it sound like not a compliment but I’ll take it as a compliment. Thank you

 **Keith:** Is Plaxum... keeping you happy?

 **Keith:** I mean you’re not forcing yourself to b around him for Lana’s sake rigt 

**Me:** The only think I’m forcing myself to do is forcing myself to leave when we start makin out tbh

 **Keith:** That’s nice

 **Me:** Shh don’t sass me keith!!! You know as well as I do that between fighting the Galra and saving the universe there’s no time for an actual relationship

 **Keith:** so you’re letting yourself pretend to be in a relationship with someone you don’t really like just because you wish you could be in a relationship

 **Me:** This is so weird why are you so interested all of a sudden

(It’s not sudden. Lance knows it’s not. But he can’t help himself from prodding at Keith.)

 **Keith:** it doesn’t bother you that you don’t know him or that he’s a boy or that you don’t have any memories with him yourejust going with it?

 **Me:** Well I’m not here for very long hopefully

 **Me:** If we get stuck here then I guess I’ll break up with him 

**Me:** Besides. Plenty of boys are just as attractive as girls! Like me

 **Me:** I miss my space abs :(

 **Keith:** Your space abs

 **Me:** Yeah man Lana’s not bad but she doesn’t have space abs

 **Keith:** listening to you judge your own attractiveness is more unsettling than I expected

 **Me:** You expected to talk about my attractiveness? ;)

 **Keith:** Yeah. You can’t get enough of yourself obviously this is what I expect of you

 **Me:** Thank you for recognizing my importance

 **Keith:** Okay. Whatever.

 **Keith:** I get that you’re doing this for Lana, or whatever.

 **Keith:** But

 **Me:** Earh to Keith are you gonna finish your sentence it’s been like ten Vargas

 **Keith:** Never mind forget it

 **Keith:** Let’s just

 **Keith:** Yeah forget it

He’s been rereading it since Keith left. He can’t figure out what Keith was going to say. Maybe prompting him to finish his thought was the wrong idea? Maybe given enough time Keith would have finally managed to shit out whatever emotions he was constipated over?

It’s halfway through lunch when Keith shows up to school. The group chat is a flood of questions from Pidge, and would be from everyone else if she didn’t already cover everything on their minds. Keith’s apparently sick. Thinks he’s got a cold.

It chills Lance to read that. Not because Keith has a cold - but because earlier in the morning he’d coughed up his fucking lungs until blood was dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. His breathing is still ragged, he’s been refraining from speaking - Plaxum has been so sweet to him all day but he had to eventually just ask him to give him some fucking space.

Is it related?

He makes sure to confirm that everyone’s still planning to head to Lotor’s party after school, and hen does his best to get through the day.

-

He almost gets sent home. It’s his last period, and he’s excused himself to go to the bathroom, but the bathroom closest is also closest to the office and the school nurse finds him hacking like a dead man on legs in the girls bathroom. There are several things that piss Lance off about this - he hates when staff members don’t use the staff bathroom. It’s there for a _reason._ It’s there because staff and students aren’t supposed to be getting naked in the same room with each other.

He hates that she immediately takes him to the health room. He hates that he can’t walk straight because his chest is exploding and that she starts asking him questions about his _love life_ \- like, what if he has cancer? He has cancer and she wants to know who he has a crush on.

He doesn’t even answer. His head is kind of spinning from the shortness of breath. She asks to call his parents - he denies that he needs any attention and just begs her to let him go back to class. He has a party after this. Plaxum is driving him. He can’t miss that. Especially not for a _cough._

The worried furrow of Nurse Ryner’s brow persists. “Lana, I understand that this can be extremely difficult to go through, both emotionally and physically. But sometimes hanahaki therapy has been shown to lessen the effects. We can’t administer any of the current medications circulating around for this condition, not until they’re federally approved. Would you like to talk to me about it?”

“About what?” he chokes, frustrated. Tears are about to spill over his eyelashes. “My lungs fucking hurt. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know if it’s just a cold, but I’m positive I can handle it so you can just let me go to class.”

Actually, that’s a big fat lie. Lance kind of wants someone to wrap him in blankets and massage his sides until the pain goes away. Kind of wants to stand in a sunrise and let heat burn him up and erase this moment. He nearly throws up with the force of the next cough, and - this fat, limp glob of orange film blows out his lungs. Getting it out gives him some breathing room.

He stares. It’s… a petal?

“Is this a tiger lily?” Nurse Ryner asks, picking it up with her gloved hands and smoothing it out over her palm. “Oh, you poor girl, I’m so sorry - how did you manage it this far?”

“What…” Lance’s voice is weak, raw.

“It’s not a cold, Lana, I’m surprised you don’t know about this already, but this is hanahaki disease. It’s a negative effect of unrequited romantic feelings, and it’s life threatening. If you’d like to talk about it, there are plenty of resources available to you. Is there anything you need to tell me?”

Lance comprehends so fast he wishes he was a little more confused and didn’t have to fully face his new reality.

It’s Keith.

He’s going to be sick.

“I have to go,” he says hoarsely. She nods sympathetically.

“You’re looking better from when I found you in the bathroom. Please don’t hesitate to seek help.”

-

He tries his best to focus on Plaxum. The nurse sounded like this is normal - which means it’s probably just as well known as the flu or ebola. Which means if Plaxum finds out anything, it could jeopardize Lana’s relationship, and like hell Lance is going to do that just because there are literal plants growing in his alveoli. That’s one thing he learned from this reality. Alveoli. Bio class.

So he spends all the time with Plaxum that Plaxum wants. They make out in his car for a good hour after they arrive at Lotor’s place, and it’s - Lance wishes he could say he enjoyed it. But knowing that Keith is causing the growth of tiger lilies in his fucking lungs kind of puts a damper on everything.

He smiles through it, though. Plaxum returns it, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind Lance’s ear. “Ready to go inside?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Lance grins.

And they walk up the path to Lotor’s mansion holding hands.


End file.
